Nebraska lawmakers explore feasibility of small modular nuclear reactors - KOLN
Nebraska lawmakers explore feasibility of small modular nuclear reactors
LINCOLN, Neb. ( Nebraska Examiner) - Nebraska lawmakers are exploring whether the state could take on the future of energy production — such as small modular nuclear reactors — sometime in the next decade.
While the exact time frame is years off, a special legislative committee heard Friday, lawmakers have their work cut out for them: The process can begin without legislative action.
State Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon introduced Legislative Resolution 178 to explore the feasibility of constructing and operating such nuclear reactors in the Cornhusker State. The study could inform possible legislation in 2024, which will be Brewer’s last year before being term-limited out of the Legislature.
“It’s not a quick fix,” Brewer testified. “But I think we have to start this process so that when the time comes and states have the opportunity to have this SMR (small modular reactors) ability that we’ve done the right thing to help public power be able to do it without having obstacles in their way.”
Brewer said it could be close to 10 to 15 years before the state has these reactors, but Nebraska is giving a nod that nuclear expansion is on the table.
Costs and benefits
Tom Kent, president and CEO of the Nebraska Public Power District, said nuclear power must be part of the solution as the Legislature ponders how to ensure a reliable and robust economy, preserve the environment, maintain today’s quality of life and assess the needs of the future.
Nuclear energy is clean and reliable, Kent said, and it can support NPPD’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2050. Omaha Public Power District and Lincoln Electric System have similar goals.
The state could support reactor production and “level the playing field” compared to private companies, Kent said, through incentives to entities who want to dive into nuclear energy.
Kent said he has decades of experience overseeing nuclear energy, such as with NPPD’s Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville or during his time in the Navy. Kent also serves on the Nuclear Energy Institute’s board of directors.
The Cooper Station produces about 1,365 megawatts of energy annually, Kent said. NuScale Power, a company based in Portland, Oregon, is among those leading efforts into small modular reactors. It estimates the energy production of one reactor at about 77 megawatts annually.
That equates to a need of about 18 small modular reactors to equal the production of a station the size of Cooper.
That cost is a risk as was demonstrated in 2016 when a nuclear power plant in Fort Calhoun closed 17 years early, largely due to cost.
Reactors in Georgia, Kent noted, came years late and were well over the project’s budget.
‘There’s a lot of energy there’
Nuclear energy capabilities can be hard to fathom, Kent added, but he pointed to the Cooper Station’s core, which contains about 19 million little pellets.
Each pellet, about the size of his fingertip, has the power of one ton of coal, he told the committee. In other terms, that’s equivalent to the amount of coal in 158,000 rail cars or 1,000 unit trains, he said.
“There’s a lot of energy there, and it’s something that we have to respect and manage and, again, think about the safety record and how well this has been done and continues to be done,” Kent said.
Small modular nuclear reactors, Kent added, take advantage of newer technology with fundamental improvements, such as for safety with the utilization of physics with water pumps to address the cooling of nuclear reactors when they’re shut off.
Reliable, resilient, resourceful
Jan Bostelman, a licensed professional chemical, metallurgical and nuclear engineer, testified that nuclear energy is reliable, resilient and resourceful and has the lowest footprint compared to other resources. It is also the most energy-dense resource.
“As far as resources go, land resources are a really important thing here in Nebraska. We always value our land, especially for agriculture,” Jan Bostelman said.
Jan Bostelman is married to State Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard, who is part of the seven-member select committee looking into the reactors. Sen. Bostelman chairs the Natural Resources Committee, where legislation into modular reactors would likely be referred.
Education is required
Kristen Gottschalk, president of the Advanced Nuclear Coalition, said education on nuclear energy is critical for the public’s support as the state cannot overlook past nuclear accidents. She pointed to Chernobyl, Fukushima and Three Mile Island.
“Education on this should not be a secondary thought in the process but, rather, a first step in moving forward, starting today,” Gottschalk said.
“You have to share the good with the bad and the bad with the good as you go through this process,” she added. “Otherwise, it looks like you’re hiding under an umbrella.”
State Sens. Barry DeKay of Niobrara, Rita Sanders of Bellevue and Bostelman, all select committee members, plan to travel to France in November to observe the country’s nuclear capabilities.
Gottschalk, who will join the trio, said a majority of France’s energy is nuclear.
While the group will not visit a small modular nuclear reactor, they will see a reprocessing center to look at research development that likely includes small modular reactors.
‘Ready to make that next step’
Public power can get started right away in preparing proposals as reactors near final approval in different parts of the country, including Idaho, Tennessee and Wyoming, Kent said.
A goal will be to identify a handful of prospective sites, about two to four, so that when the time comes — even if a decade away — Nebraska can seize its opportunity.
“They’re going to be successful, I believe very successful,” Kent said. “We want to be ready to make that next step.”
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Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: nuclear
Nuclear energy provides almost 20 percent of the U.S. electricity supply. Advocates have called for an expanded role for nuclear as an emissions-free fuel source. But the economics of building new reactors are daunting. In addition, lingering safety concerns are an institutionalized part of the calculation of nuclear regulation, and highly radioactive nuclear waste remains a can that public officials have been inclined to kick down the road. The Energy Information Administration projects a sharp decline in nuclear power generation over the next decade, as new nuclear plants — two are planned — are more than offset by anticipated retirements of several operating reactors.